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Missing disaster management

Kashmir Times. Dated: 11/27/2012 11:53:53 PM

Administration’s failure to provide timely rescue operations and relief to the victims

The allegations of the people affected by the inferno at Frisal, Pahalgam that the fire tenders reached late is yet another grim reminder of the dismal disaster management mechanism in Jammu and Kashmir. It is a pity that the state government is unable to respond to the challenges of any kind of disaster effectively. The biggest lesson was learnt in the earthquake of 2005 and in the winter before that in what came to be known as the snow tsunami of Waltengo Nar, after which the disaster management cell was conceived. However, even as power transferred from one party to another, and despite assurances of each successive government, virtually no effort has been made in building up an effective disaster management cell to deal with both the fury of nature and man-made disasters. While one can do little to prevent natural disasters like earthquakes, snow storms and avalanches, though to some extent some of the furies of nature can be countered with long term eco-friendly measures, there is much that can be done to prevent the man-made disasters like the one in Pahalgam earlier this weekend. The mounting graph of fatal road accidents have provoked much outrage among the people particularly in erstwhile Doda district and other remote hilly areas but there is as yet no serious work to check such easily avoidable disasters by rectifying certain errors. Whether it is natural disasters or such man-made ones, the administration fails to work effectively in prevention or timely rescue and relief operations. Though no single department of the state administration can be held responsible, the lack of co-ordination as well as clear demarcation of roles is certainly an underlying factor. While the job and scope of the disaster management cell will obviously be limited and cannot be burdened with the onus of everything from prevention to relief work, it is expected to play the role of a good and effective co-ordinator in times of disaster, rather than simply waking up after much damage has been done and restless victims begin protesting for a better deal.
But first of all, the state administration needs to develop its own understanding of what forms a disaster. This understanding needs to be evolved on basis of the threat perception of different kinds of disasters in this state. For instance, certain areas of the state fall within a very vulnerable seismic zone and thus, earthquake should naturally be included in the list. Every year, the state’s hilly areas experience heavy avalanches, landslides, storms and snow storms that play havoc with life and property, leaving vast chunks of population virtually cut off and marooned and so it is important that these be included in the list. The state also has a phenomenally higher ratio of road accidents as compared to rest of the country, partly due to mismanaged road traffic and lack of both roads and transport services and partly due to the difficult terrain of the hilly areas. The fatalities in such accidents are abnormally high and they easily qualify for disasters that need to be tackled on a war footing. The state also has a high vulnerability of fire accidents, especially in the Valley and hilly areas where excessive wood is used in building structures and excessive heating appliances are used to beat the harsh winters.
The Disaster Management Cell’s task should be to list all disasters, factoring in several other similar disasters, and first of all find ways and means to reduce the risk of such disasters both man-made and natural and locate departments who could be tasked for ensuring minimal risk, for instance co-ordinating efforts between Roads and Bridges department, transport authorities and traffic authorities for reducing risk of road accidents or ensuring that the departments like power development department use better quality wires to reduce the risk of fires due to short circuits, which is very common. The second step should be in organising rescue operations once an eventuality happens. This is where the state always miserably fails and has to rely heavily on the army or civilian volunteers to do the needful. Whether it is rescuing people from debris of collapsed buildings, from flooded areas, from deep gorges where buses and vehicles roll down, from areas caught in blaze, there is no contingency plan to make the rescue operations better co-ordinated, more timely and effective. This is what needs to be the focus of the disaster management cell, which otherwise comes into picture by the time all the rescue work is over or it is too late to even carry it out. The third task of the disaster management cell should be in designing and monitoring the relief work suited to the needs of the people. There is need to realize that our disaster management ails right from planning to execution. While there is need for lot of churning of minds within the disaster management cell, it would be a worthless effort if there is an agency in place to co-ordinate the planned efforts. This is where the job of the disaster management cell becomes crucial.